Review: Frisky & Mannish - E4 Udderbelly Festival, Southbank London

Thurs 12th April: After entering the iconic upside-down purple cow venue to take our seats, we were greeted by a message, which was in the form of Sky’s electronic programme guide; the message consisted of instructions about what we had to do before the show started; taking our seats, turning off cameras and phones and making sure we had gone to the toilet, a unique way of broadcasting a well-known start of show message.

It was a successful start at the E4 Udderbelly Festival for Frisky & Mannish, with a packed audience. F&M are an act who are hard to explain, but as they’ve put it are simply ‘about joy and laughter and POP MUSIC’. F&M use well known songs, collaborate them and put their own twist on to each individual song, along with coming up with their own songs about current topics. The way they do it is to be commended, a skill not many people have, but the act is so effective and addictive, you leave wanting to see more.

The music kicked in and we were introduced to Frisky, a girl with outstanding vocals, wearing a dress to emphasise the quirkiness of the act. Then after a few verses from Frisky, Mannish then joined her, equally with talented vocals and piano skills to match. Their vocal skills are not to be overlooked, and it’s something you can’t miss, their voices are quite simply diverse and amazing.

To get the audience in the mood, some audience participation was used, it involved us singing when we were told, it included the well known song by Minnie Riperton ‘Loving You’, clearly we lacked the same vocal skills as F&M. Then we did a bit of dancing, to the familiar sounds of the Spice Girls ‘Slam me to the left, shake it to the right, shake it to the front’, with the audience in full spirits and giggling as the act went on.

There were a few sketches throughout the hour long performance. One of my personal favourites was a sketch about Grime music; F&M believe that with Grime you can turn any song in to a massive hit, the chosen song was The Carpenters ‘Top Of The World’, F&M took on roles of Grime artists and transformed the song, one of the funniest parts of the show and definitely a song worth listening to.

Frisky & Mannish are an outrageously funny act, their stage presence is superb, and the chemistry the two have on stage makes the act what it is; faultless. If you have already been to one of their shows, you are still in for a treat, with new material being shown and if you have never been to a show before, then you have everything to look forward to.

If you are looking for a show, where afterwards you have the feeling of your cheeks aching from laughing and smiling too much, this is the show for you.